Worship Planning Notes

Peace. As I sit here, writing worship planning notes almost seven months before Advent, I wonder if I, if we, will be longing for peace in December the way I long for it now. I feel the ache behind the psalmist’s will statements—God will speak, the Lord will give, righteousness will go before him… We say—or we sing—the will statements because we know they aren’t true of our world right now, but we hope they will be true in the future. So, why not this psalm for the first week of Advent, the hope week? Well, other than the fact that the lectionary assigned Psalm 85 for this particular week, I also wonder if real, true, life-giving peace isn’t possible without hope. Maybe peace and righteousness can’t meet without hope to guide them.

Where is hope directing your community toward peace?

I think if we can answer this question, we are well on our way to infusing worship with opportunities to listen for God speaking peace among us and calling us to speak peace to our world. Don’t be surprised if your answers point you to sing hymns of rejoicing in God’s work. Note: Psalm 85 begins with remembering the good things God has done. Remembering and rejoicing in God’s history among us bolsters our hope and our work for peace. At the same time, don’t despair if your answers point to the need for contemplation and rest in worship. For some of us, hope feels far away, and peace feels impossible. In those seasons, one of the best things we can do for our community is offer space to be gentle with one another, to name our pain and suffering, and to experience God’s faithfulness and solidarity with us. This, too, is a way God speaks peace to us.

Either way, as you explore hope and peace in worship, consider what God’s hope and peace call us to do. It is very easy to read the end of Psalm 85 through a prosperity-gospel lens; i.e., do what God asks, and God will make you successful/wealthy/fruitful. However, remembering that these psalms were written in an agrarian culture, I’m struck by all the creation imagery. Perhaps it is not that we make God happy and God makes us prosperous, but rather that by living in God’s peace, we live in right relationship with all creation—the land, the skies, the creatures, and our fellow humans. So, whether you encounter peace by rejoicing in God’s goodness or sitting in God’s never-failing presence, how will worship today call people into right and peaceful relationship with God, self, neighbor, and all creation?

Dr. Lisa Hancock, Director of Worship Arts Ministries, served as an organist and music minister in United Methodist congregations in the legacy Northwest Texas and North Texas Annual Conferences, as well as the New Day Amani/Upendo house churches in Dallas. After receiving her Master of Sacred Music and Master of Theological Studies degrees from Perkins School of Theology, Lisa earned her PhD in Religious Studies from Southern Methodist University, where she researched and wrote on the doctrine of Christ, disability, and atonement.